Maturity mismatch roils US shipbuilding expedition
13/11/2025 14:06
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own. By Gabriel Rubin WASHINGTON, Nov 13 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The Sino-American gulf in shipbuilding is vast. China built more commercial vessels by tonnage last year than the United States has done cumulatively since World War Two. Bridging the divide will be a daunting task, one made even more difficult by erratic U.S. policymaking. In typical fashion, U.S. President Donald Trump made a big splash, unveiling deals with South Korea and Japan, the second- and third-largest shipbuilders behind China. Although Seoul's promises are provisional, $150 billion of its $350 billion in direct U.S. investment pledges go toward constructing marine transport. Hanwha Ocean 042660.KS and Hanwha Systems 272210.KS, affiliates of the eponymous conglomerate, bought a Philadelphia shipyard and plan to turn it into a hub. During his trip to Tokyo last month, Trump also signed a cooperation agreement to share industry expertise and investment. There are national security concerns at play. U.S. policymakers fear China's dominance is a direct boon to its goal of developing a “blue water navy” whose zones of influence would expand far beyond its own territorial waters, in a challenge to U.S. dominance. The United States builds its own naval ships, but a smaller workforce and lagging development timelines for new ones put it at risk of falling behind Beijing in the long haul. Such fears have galvanized Washington. Legislation with bipartisan support would impose high port fees on Chinese-made boats, using the proceeds to fund job-training programs and new shipyards. The plan is to build 250 U.S.-flagged vessels over 10 years, a modest goal even though it would triple the existing fleet. China has more than 5,500. Executives from Hanwha, Japan’s Imabari and Italy’s Fincantieri FCT.MI, among others, have made the rounds in the U.S. capital, hosting receptions with lawmakers and defense contractors to make the case for enlisting their expertise. The late start leaves China with plenty of ways to push back, and the slapdash U.S. approach to diplomacy further muddies the water. Within weeks of imposing targeted port fees, Trump temporarily dropped them as part of a broader truce on rare earth metal exports, soybeans, and semiconductors. It's hard to pursue a strategic, long-term venture while using the same industry as a political bargaining chip extended and withdrawn on a whim. Any U.S. shipbuilding renaissance depends on cooperation, capital and resilience. Too much short-term thinking will sink it at the dock. Follow Gabriel Rubin on Bluesky and LinkedIn. CONTEXT NEWS South Korean shipbuilding companies agreed to invest $150 billion in the American shipbuilding industry over the next decade, according to terms released on October 30 by South Korea’s government during U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit. China sanctioned five U.S. subsidiaries of South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha after the Trump administration on October 14 imposed steep port fees on Chinese-made ships as part of a probe into the country's shipping industry. Bipartisan legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate in April would reinvest the port fee proceeds into maritime security and infrastructure projects such as shipyard revitalization and worker training initiatives. Abandon shipbuilding: US commercial market share sinks https://www.reuters.com/graphics/BRV-BRV/dwpkqrozdpm/chart.png (Editing by Jeffrey Goldfarb; Production by Pranav Kiran) ((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on RUBIN/gabriel.rubin@thomsonreuters.com))